Blue's Anatomy
by pikapikatchu
Summary: Sorry for the stupid title :) A suspect gets rushed to the ER with a gunshot wound caused by one of the police officers. While he was trying to do his job, Greg gets in the suspects' escape way. He soon has to learn that even an injured suspect can be a real danger.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! Here's a brand-new story! It was so much fun writing it, I hope you enjoy reading it just as much :)**

 **If you got the time, maybe let me know what you think!**

 **Thanks and Big Love,**

 **pikapikatchu**

* * *

"Stop it!"

"Put the restraints on him already!" officer Spencer yelled to his colleague as they were standing around a hospital gurney. The man lying on it was resisting treatment by the doctors with all his powers, even though he had a gunshot wound to his leg.

"I'm trying to, he..." officer Perry was struggling a lot with this man. He had only been with the force for two months and was a little overwhelmed by how physically and emotionally demanding that job sometimes was.

"Careful," Greg said, standing a few feet away from them. "This guy's evidence."

The doctors were standing around quite helplessly, one of them had already been hit in the face by the man flailing around aimlessly. "He's losing a lot of blood," one of them said concerned.

Spencer jumped on the gurney, pushing the man down forcefully. "Now!"

His colleague put restraints on the man with shaking hands. "Done!"

Greg watched them do their job with an uneasy look on his face.

"Great, can we now get him into a room?" the doctor asked annoyed as he injected a mild sedative. This wasn't the first person resisting treatment that was rolled into this E.R., but the first time the police men didn't seem to be able to handle the situation.

Spencer nodded as him and Perry were following the doctors and the patient.

Greg hurried behind. "Spencer, Perry, wait!"

Both did. "Sorry, we know you need to talk to us. But let me get this straight, it was necessary to shoot at him."

"Tell me what happened."

"We literally caught him red-handed. He was touching one of the bodies, I don't know what he did with her, but when he noticed us, blood was dripping from his hands. He just charged at us, that's when... Perry shot him."

The young officer put his head down. "I thought he was going to kill us."

"Was he armed?" Greg asked as he wrote down what they said.

Both shook their heads.

Greg released a little sigh. Shooting an unarmed suspect was never good. "Okay. What else?"

"I don't know what else to say, I'm just so sorry, I..." officer Perry paused, struggling to keep his composure.

The CSI nodded with a pitying look on his face. He knew how it felt to be in a situation like that, although his situation back then wasn't exactly the same as the one officer Perry found himself in now. "He looks like he'll be fine. Just try to keep calm, this will be okay." He put his hand on Perry's shoulder as he smiled at him. He felt a little weird doing it as he hardly knew him, but knew his colleague needed it right now. "I'll go find the doctor and talk to him, you two can wait here, maybe get some coffee, alright?"

"Thanks, Greg." Spencer went on to hug him. The CSI realized Spencer needed that hug right now, too, but he didn't really feel too comfortable with it.

Greg walked back to the two officers after talking to the doctors. He had a smile on his face. "Good news, he'll be fine."

"Thank god," Perry whispered to himself.

"Spencer, we need to talk to him. He's awake. Perry, you stay here, alright? Brass is on his way, he'll ask you some questions. Make sure you answer honestly, alright?"

The young officer nodded hastily. "I-I will. Thanks."

"What do you think, did he make the right call?" Greg asked Spencer as they walked into the hospital room where the suspect was lying in.

"I'm not sure. The way he ran up to us sure made it look like he was about to attack us, but we have other tools to defend ourselves with than just our guns, you know? I had my baton and pepper spray ready. Maybe we can chalk it up to a rookie's mistake but... it was a bad call."

Greg nodded thoughtful as he approached the man. "Hi. I'm Greg Sanders, I'm with the crime lab. Can you tell me your name?"

The man looked around quite disoriented. The anaesthesia had worn off and he seemed to slowly begin to understand where he was and what was happening.

"We didn't find any I.D. on you. You were shot, should we contact anyone for you?"

Instead of answering him, the man spit at Greg.

The CSI took a step back, but this man's saliva hit him on his CSI jacket. "...Well, that's one way to give a DNA sample." He turned to Spencer to whisper to him. "I need to collect the evidence from under his fingernails sometime later."

Spencer frowned. "Why later? He's sedated, it's easier to do it now."

"Yeah, but..."

"Go ahead." Spencer walked up to the man. "I'll hold him down if I need to."

"...Alright." Greg proceeded to clean the man's fingernails. He was able to get three fingers without any resistance, but when he reached the fourth, the man started wiggling in his bed. "...Sir, please hold still."

Spencer grabbed the man's arm and pressed it down on the bed. "Quick, do it."

Greg wasn't happy taking evidence off a resisting person, but he needed to get it and knew it would only get harder once the man wasn't under medication anymore. He managed to get finger four and five from that hand. Only five more fingers to go, he thought to himself. He walked to the man's left side to proceed. "Sir, please stay calm. You're only making things worse for you," he said, hoping the man would show some kind of sense. As he walked there, he slipped and almost fell, propping himself on the suspect's bed.

"Whoa, Greg, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I... what the hell is that?" He looked down at the red floor. Blood. This looked a lot like blood. And now that he thought about it, the whole room smelled of blood. "Spencer... There's a man lying under the bed. He's bleeding."

"What?"

Greg was reaching down to the dead man to feel for a pulse. "...He's dead. I think he's one of the doctors who worked on him."

"...What? How...?"

As Greg looked at the suspect, the man grinned at him, lifting his arms out of the restraints, revealing they had been previously ripped. A tight grip forming around Greg's neck, he smashed his head down on the rim of the bed.

Spencer instantly pulled his gun, but as soon as he pointed it at the man, he pushed the officer's hand to the side. A shot was accidentally fired that hit Greg, who was already lying on the floor, in a puddle of the doctor's blood.

After that shot was fired, officer Perry stormed inside. Greg had already taken his gun as evidence, it was already on it's way to the lab. "What the hell?!" he asked scared and confused.

The suspect was standing on the right side of his bed, a tight grip around Spencer's neck. "Get in here and close the door!"

"...Huh?"

"Do it or he dies!"

Perry looked around confused and scared. Spencer was in this man's armlock and he could only see Greg's feet lying in a puddle of blood. "Oh god."

The alarms in the hospital started ringing as people outside could be heard panicking. Perry stood there shaking, unable to think, unable to move.

"Let him go," Greg said with a pain-ridden face as he was slowly trying to sit up on the floor. "Please."

"I said get in here!" the man yelled.

"Do you really want to be in here with two cops? Why take any risks? Let him go."

"Shut up! And you get in here!"

Perry's eyes wandered frightened between Greg and the man. He didn't dare to speak or move.

"Listen, you already have us two. Why take any risks by taking a third person hostage?" Greg slowly got up, growling out in pain as he propped himself up on the bed. He was covered in blood, but most of it was from the dead doctor. "Perry, just leave."

"No! I told him to get in here so he comes in here!" the man yelled as he applied more pressure on Spencer's neck.

Perry walked in, hectically closing the door behind him. He hugged the door, frighteningly looking around for ways to overpower the man – even though he hardly had enough courage not to break down crying right now.

As soon as Perry was inside, the man loosened his grip around Spencer's neck.

"So what now?" Greg asked sheepishly.

"Just shut up." The man started patting Spencer down. He threw the pepper spray and baton away and told Perry to do the same. But he was visibly happy about finding a cell phone at the officer.

"Greg, you're bleeding," Spencer whispered.

The CSI nodded. "I know. It's fine." Greg was hit on the shoulder by the gunshot. It was a very hurtful graze wound.

"I'm so sorry," the officer whispered.

Greg shook his head. "Nobody's fault."

"Would you two shut up? I'm trying to make a phone call here!" the man yelled annoyed. He finished his very peculiar phone conversation. Neither Greg nor Spencer had any clue who the man was talking to or what he was discussing, he kept it very secretive. "You won't bleed out and die here, will you... Greg?" the man asked laughing.

Greg shook his head. "I'll be fine." He tried to stay as calm as possible, even though he was very close to a panic attack himself. "...Okay, you now know my name. What's yours?"

The man hesitated for a moment, but then said, "I'm known as Blue."

"Yeah? Where are you known as Blue?"

"Hey, I'm not really in the mood to chat right now." He kept looking around the floor quite nervous.

Greg realized he was looking for the gun. He was relieved to know it was lying under the bed, where Blue couldn't see it. He contemplated just grabbing and using it, but he feared things could end badly for Spencer if he did. He needed to try a more peaceful approach first. "Blue. You want to get out of here, don't you?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Next chapter! Are you enjoying the story so far? ;)**

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Perry had been trying to take care of Greg's gunshot wound for almost ten minutes now. Blue had finally enough. "What the hell? Just do it!"

"I-I'm so sorry. I can't... I just can't, I'm sorry." The young police officer sobbed as his shaking hands kept failing to put a decent bandage on Greg's wound. He got propper first aid training, but was too nervous to be able to remember what to do.

"It's fine, I think I can do this myself," Greg replied reassuring. He started trying to care for his wounds as good as he could. But he just wasn't able to put enough pressure on his gunshot wound to stop the bleeding and wrap a bandage around it with just one arm.

"This is getting ridiculous." Blue rolled his eyes. "Get over here."

"...N-No, I said I'll get it."

"And I said get over here." Blue raised his voice.

Greg approached the man slowly and cautiously. "I'm sorry."

Blue rolled his eyes as he grabbed Greg's arm to pull him closer to him. "You," he addressed Spencer. "Help him."

Spencer was able to dress the wound, but it hurt Greg. "Sorry," he whispered to him.

Greg just nodded, suffering through the pain silently. After he was done, Greg stood there, wondering if he was allowed to go back to his spot.

"What are you doing standing there like an idiot?" Blue asked rather unnerved, pushing Greg away from him and onto the bed.

The physical wounds from his last attack had already healed, but the emotional wounds were still open, so being thrown down on a bed by a man that was immensely superior to him physically, triggered his panic. "Please don't," he begged. Only now did he realize that Blue didn't have anything of the sorts in his mind.

Blue just gave him a look. "What the hell are you doing?"

Greg slowly got off the bed on the left side so he'd be able to stand where he stood a few minutes ago. He gulped, trying to calm himself down a bit by taking deep breaths.

"Greg. Relax." Spencer had a stern face impression.

The CSI nodded hastily.

"What was that?" Blue asked interested.

"Nothing."

"Didn't look like nothing."

Greg had a short temper when it came to that subject. "You're not the first to try to traumatize me, surprised?" He gave him a look.

Blue was a bit surprised by Greg's aggressive reaction. "Kinda. You look like the typical over-privileged guy who never experienced anything bad in his life, so..." He shrugged.

Greg just rolled his eyes while Spencer watched that conversation with a confused frown on his face.

"...Over-privileged, right..." Blue looked thoughtful for a moment. "Empty your pockets. All of you."

"...What?"

"Give me your money. I'll need it later."

Greg rolled his eyes again. "What else do you want from us? Here, take my 50 bucks!" Greg threw his money on the bed.

"Greg, calm down." Spencer didn't like the way Greg was slowly losing his patience. "I have about 200$ in my pocket, do you want me to get it out myself or do you want to get it?" he asked Blue.

"I'll get it," he replied cocky.

Greg had noticed it before, but it was intensifying right now. Spencer and Perry kept giving each other weird looks. The CSI had assumed Spencer was trying to calm his colleague down, but he now realized there was something else going on. "No," he whispered to them as he shook his head, but the look on Spencer's face made him know he didn't care that the CSI disapproved. He decided to go on with his plan, anyway.

As soon as Blue started looking through the officer's pockets, Spencer elbowed him in the gut. They started fighting and Perry soon joined them.

"Stop it, no!" Greg yelled out in fear, knowing he'd be unable to fight back if he needed to. He knew the man was physically stronger than the two officers combined, even though he had been shot in the leg a few hours prior.

"Run!" Spencer yelled to Greg, but instead of using the opportunity to flee, Greg looked for the gun under the bed.

"Blue, stop it!" Greg pointed the gun at him, but it wasn't safe to pull the trigger yet. The two officers were in the way. The man didn't even realize a gun was in the CSIs hand, he was too busy fighting off the two officers. "Hey!" he yelled frustrated.

Blue was finally looking at him, but wasn't happy to see the gun drawn. He forcefully pushed Spencer and Perry to the side to charge at Greg by jumping over the bed.

The CSI was scared and had hoped not to have to shoot Blue, but he fired a shot, anyway. Even though it hit Blue in the chest, it didn't stop him from attacking Greg.

Spencer and Perry ran up to the two, trying to get Blue off of Greg. But the man still had too much strength from to the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He shook the officers off with ease as he kept on smashing his gigantic fists on Greg.

None of the men had noticed that Greg's and Spencer's phones kept ringing the entire time.

The struggle lasted minutes, with Blue clearly overpowering the three men. When he realized they all didn't stand a chance against the raging man, Spencer decided to look for the gun. Greg had dropped it the moment Blue started assaulting him.

Blue was towering over Greg as another shot was fired, hitting him in the neck. It was finally enough to stop him, he fell over instantly, burying Greg underneath him.

"You did it! You stopped him!" Perry exclaimed excited and relieved.

"I didn't even find the gun!" Spencer ran to the still closed door to open it, looking outside in terror. "There's no one here!"

"What?!" Perry asked hectically. "What do you mean?!"

"Get down!"

The men waited a moment, but no additional shot was fired.

"Get him off me, please," Greg wailed, trying to push the big man off him with one arm.

"Sorry." Spencer hurried over to help Greg get up while Perry called Brass over the phone. "Greg, what are you doing?" he asked confused as he watched Greg try to apply pressure to Blue's neck wound.

"Get me something to stop the bleeding!"

Spencer frowned. "Are you serious?"

"Yeah, I'm serious! Come on!"

The officer rolled his eyes. Not only did he not care whether the criminal lived or died, he didn't think he'd make it, anyway. The neck wound gushed out a lot of blood, but he was willing to help his friend. He grabbed a cloth and handed it over. "You must be exhausted, Greg. I know I am. Just wait for backup, let them take care of it."

"He needs help **now** , Spencer." Greg sobbed as he tried to perform CPR with only one arm.

It took backup almost a minute to arrive. The three men didn't know, but Brass was already planning how to get them out of there.

They cleared the scene as quickly as they got the paramedics in to help the guys and Blue.

Greg looked out the window as a paramedic was tending to him. "You shot him through the window," he said quite absent-minded.

"I thought you guys shot him," Brass replied confused.

The CSI pointed at the window. The glass was broken. "We didn't."


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys! Hope you enjoy this story, here's the next chapter.**

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"Hey Dave." Greg walked into the autopsy room with a smile on his face, acting casual. It was the day after the hostage situation and while Greg was supposed to rest at home, he decided to get an update on the case instead. "You've worked on Joshua March, right?"

He nodded. "I have." He looked Greg up and down worried. "Are you alright? Are you back to work already?"

"Not exactly, but I'm okay."

Greg's overall exterior made David doubt it. The CSI was covered in bruises and his arm was in a sling. He looked tired, too. "What does that mean, not exactly?"

"It means that Russell doesn't need to know I'm here, alright? I just need some information on Joshua March."

David didn't feel good about this, but he agreed to it, anyway. "Okay, but only because I have him on the table right now. I'm just about to finish up, come on." He lead his colleague into the other room.

Greg walked in with a confident face impression that faded once he saw Blue lying on that cold metal table.

"He was a healthy guy. Nick said he'd been in prison for drug charges but there's no signs of drug abuse. Nothing in his blood or hair aside from what they gave him at the hospital."

"He was clean?"

The coroner nodded. "Yeah. He had a few old fractures on his fingers. My best guess is that he got them by fighting with others, inmates possibly."

"Yeah, he sure was a fighter," Greg replied rather absent-minded. "Any other recent injuries aside from the gunshot wounds?"

David nodded. "He actually had a head wound. Blunt force trauma, but I have no idea from what."

Greg looked quite surprised. "Really...? What about the gunshot wounds?"

"Well, the one to the leg was fired from a few feet away."

Greg nodded. "Officer Perry did this to defend himself against him. What about the other two?"

"Well, the neck wound obviously killed him but the chest wound would've sufficed. He would've had bled out from it in a few minutes. Whoever shot him in the neck just put him out of his misery."

"...The chest wound would've been fatal?"

"It must've hurt like hell, I'm surprised he even got up after it. But the neck wound indicates he did."

"He attacked me right after I shot him. He was able to fight off Perry and Spencer while beating me." Greg had a disbelieving look on his face.

"...Wait, you shot at him?"

He nodded as he looked Blue up and down. "I just wanted to stop him."

"Greg, I had no idea... you shouldn't be here."

"I know," he whispered, still staring at the body. "I tried to stop the bleeding on the neck, but I never stood a chance, did I?"

He was feeling like going home, but Greg had a few things he needed to take care of at the lab first. Walking back up from autopsy with his head down low and a bunch of files in his hands, he bumped into Nick. "Oh, Nick."

"Greg." Surprise was audible in his voice. "What are you doing here? ...You were down in autopsy, right?"

He nodded hesitantly. "Yup."

Nick gave him a look. "You should be home, why are you torturing yourself like that?"

Greg shrugged as he sighed. "I just need to take care of a few things before I take a week off. I can't let my paperwork sit here for days, the cases are too important."

"That's not what I meant. I could take care of your paperwork, but that's not my point. I meant the body down in autopsy."

He walked past his friend. "I needed to see him, Nick."

"Why?" He followed.

"I don't know, okay? I just needed to see him."

"Well, do you feel better now?"

He shook his head as he entered the break room. "I feel worse than before. Dave said he suffered quite a lot from the wound I inflicted on him."

"...Have you looked into a mirror lately?"

"What?"

"Come on, the guy obviously didn't care how much **you** suffered, so why should you care that **he** suffered?"

"...It's not that simple, Nick. I know I didn't have any other choice once I had the gun in my hand but..."

"But what?"

"Spencer told me to run away. This guy might still be alive had I just run away."

"But Spencer and Perry might've not been so lucky, then."

Greg shrugged. "I don't think this guy would've gotten to the gun."

"Look, the way I heard it... this guy was able to do this to you without a gun while two cops were trying to restrain him. He was also able to kill a doctor without a gun while he was probably still under the influence of the medication they gave him. Do you really think you made the wrong call trying to defend yourself and your colleagues against him?"

The time at the lab strained Greg more than he had realized. He was exhausted when he arrived back at Nick's place. He got into bed, trying to get some sleep instantly as he could hardly keep his eyes open. He fell asleep just as quickly, but woke up four hours later, rising out of bed startled as he heard a noise coming from the living room. He looked around a bit disoriented. He realized it was only 6 a.m., the sun was just rising. More noise could be heard from the living room, and even though he realized this could very well just be Nick getting home early, he didn't dare to walk out of the room to take a look. Instead, he stared at the door in frightened anticipation, expecting it to open up every second now. But it didn't open, he heard footsteps walking past it, as well as the door to Nick's bedroom opening. "N-Nick?" he whispered as he peeked out of the bedroom.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Nick replied with his voice as quiet as Greg's.

"Kinda, but that's okay. What are you doing here so early?"

"Just solved my case and there wasn't any work left, slow night." He smiled. "Are you alright?"

Greg nodded as he shrugged with one shoulder. "I guess."

"Do you sleep alright?"

He nodded. "More or less."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing, really. It's fine. Just some nightmares."

Nick frowned. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Greg smiled at his friend. "Maybe later."


	4. Chapter 4

**Ready for chapter four? :)**

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Even though Greg felt like he could use another few days off, he decided to come back to work two weeks after the hostage situation. His wounds were healing well, he was able to use his arm again, but some movements still hurt. Since people were already worried about him he never mentioned to anyone that Blue had dislocated his shoulder when he was attacking him. It was the real reason his arm was in a sling, his graze wound was healing quicker than his hurt muscles did.

Greg was bound to paperwork for the first few days back and decided to use this in a way that Russell wouldn't be happy about if he found out.

He was getting quite tired after staring at the computer screen and some case files for hours so he decided to take a coffee break – too obsessed with this to actually stop his work for a moment, he took the files with him.

"How's your first day back going?" Nick asked smiling as Greg entered the break room.

"Fine," he replied as he sat down. "You took over the case for me, right?"

Nick frowned. "Not just one of your cases, half of them. Why?"

"I mean the one I had been working on while... You know… I was processing the scene when March attacked Perry and Spencer."

"You did?" Nick asked surprised. He hadn't seen Greg's name on any of the files.

"Well, yeah, I was just about to start when I heard the shot. I followed March into the hospital while detective Holbrook called for another CSI... You."

He nodded. "That's right, I remember." He glanced at the files Greg was reading. "...Are those from that case?"

"Mhm, and I have a few questions."

Nick sighed deeply. "That case is none of your business and you know it."

"You found March's blood at the scene, correct?"

Nick nodded. "Just a few drops."

"Did you know he had a head wound?"

Nick frowned. "No. How do you know?"

"Didn't you talk to David?"

He shook his head. "I had two other murder cases and since the main suspect is dead, this one had to wait."

"How is he your main suspect when you didn't find any evidence to support that idea?"

"Are you policing my work?"

Greg shook his head. "Of course not. But the only reason you even consider him to be a suspect and not a victim is that he was at the scene."

"Yeah, he was at the scene touching the victim and attacking the officers who caught him doing it."

"Neither Spencer nor Perry know what he was doing with her."

"What do you **think** he was doing with her? It makes sense to think the person caught with her blood on his hands is also the one who killed her."

"I'm not so sure about that."

"Why, because of the head wound? So she got a swing at him before he killed her."

Greg hastily shook his head. "It was a bleeding head wound. Did you find anything around them she could've used as a weapon?"

Nick thought about it for a moment.

"I know I didn't. And she sure didn't have the strength to hit him with her fist hard enough to cause him to bleed."

Nick sighed as he realized what was going on. "Whether he killed her or not, what does it matter?"

"Aren't you listening? There might've been a third person at the scene."

"Or he was hit on the head before he arrived at the scene. Greg, he killed that doctor, he's obviously one of the bad guys. You did nothing wrong when you shot him. It wasn't even what killed him."

"...But it would've. David told me."

"So? What difference does it make? Wanna know what would've happened had you not pulled the trigger? Best case scenario, he would've given you an even worse beating before getting shot by Brass' men. Worst case scenario, he would've had enough strength left to beat you to death before getting shot by Brass' men. Either way, he would've been shot."

Greg nodded, staring into distance. He knew Nick was right, but he still had a guilty conscience. "Why did he even attack me when I had the gun? He must've known I'd shoot at him."

"He probably didn't care, he didn't have much to lose in that situation, he knew there was no pleasant way out for him. It's not for you to worry about it. He made the decision to attack you, that's on him, not on you."

A pause followed before Greg said, "Please take a look into this case when you get the chance. I want to know what happened."

* * *

"Greg!" Spencer exclaimed as he walked up to the CSI to hug him. He was at the police station to sign some files from cases he had worked on before the hostage situation happened. "I didn't know you were back at work." The officer had to take a few days off because he was involved in the shooting, but had been back for almost a week. "I missed you!"

"...Thanks." He smiled at him. "How are you?"

"I'm good. And you? You look... better."

Most bruises were still visible, though they were slowly losing their dark color. "Yeah, I... I'm good. It looks worse than it is, really."

"Yeah, mine, too." Spencer chuckled as he pointed at his face. Blue had gotten a few swings at him and Perry, too, before he was finally stopped. But it was nothing more than a few already fading bruises.

"How's Perry? Is he back at work yet?"

"Uhm, no. He's on administrative leave for the rest of the month. He's not feeling well, I think. This is really getting to him."

"Poor guy..." Greg sighed. "Is there anything I can do?"

Spencer shook his head as he smiled at him. "You just get better yourself, everything will be alright."

Greg couldn't help but smile back. Spencer had been through quite a lot, too, so it was nice to see him back in good spirits.

The officer lightly patted Greg's back as he meant to walk away, but Greg stopped him.

"Hey Spencer? Do you think he did it?"

"Did what?" he asked confused.

"Blue... the guy, do you think he killed that woman at the scene?"

Spencer sighed. "Look, I didn't tell you this at the hospital but... It looked like he was about to sexually assault her body. He was all over her and about to take his pants off."

"...Oh. Well, you could've told me."

"I know, I just..." He smiled at him again. "I know this doesn't necessarily mean he also killed her, but who else would be stupid enough to assault a dead body at a crime scene if not the murderer himself?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! With the last chapter I noticed that the space lines weren't visible in the whole story. So sorry for that, hope the chapters made sense, anyway ;)**

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Greg found sleeping to be a difficult task these days. If he managed to finally fall asleep, he'd wake up a few hours later, usually awoken by a nightmare. Trying to distract himself didn't work, so he figured he could put the time being awake when he should be sleeping to good use.

"You're up?" Nick asked surprised as he walked into the living room, fully dressed.

He nodded. "And you?"

"Russell called, he needs me at the lab. What are you doing up?"

"I couldn't sleep." He sighed as he typed something into his laptop.

Nick glanced at the screen. "Are you serious? You're researching this March guy?"

"Yeah, I figured he's what's keeping me awake so maybe taking care of this will help me sleep better."

Nick gave him a look. "That sounds like an awful idea. Did you at least find anything yet?"

"Actually, I did. Did you know him and the dead woman at the scene were a couple?"

"What?" Nick laughed disbelieving. "How would you know?"

"Their Facebook-Page says so. They posted on each other's walls, they were a couple."

Nick took a closer look at the screen. "Huh."

"Would you **please** start digging deeper into this case? I know you're busy with your other cases but I can help you out. I can do all the paperwork on this case."

He shook his head as he laughed. "I don't think so. You're welcome to help me with my other cases and paperwork, but not this one."

"...Whatever, just take a look into this. I don't think he killed her. He loved her."

"Okay..." He sat down next to him. "Why do you want this?"

"...Want what?"

"Why do you want him to be innocent?"

"I-I don't, I just want to find out what happened. If the real killer is still out there..."

"You realize he killed that doctor, right?"

"I know..."

"And that he would've killed all three of you if he felt the need to. Whether he killed this woman or not, he's a killer. And it doesn't matter, either way. You did what you had to do."

"I **know**..." Greg sighed. "It's just that this ripped open some old wounds, you know?"

"You mean Demetrius James?"

He nodded with a sad look on his face. "I knew this job could be dangerous. But I never really expected to have to take someone's life."

"That's what you think you did?" Nick shook his head. "No, in both cases you were trying to save somebody else's life. It's not your fault these guys decided killing people was worth risking their own lives. They knew very well what they were getting themselves into. Their deaths are not on you."

He shrugged. "I suppose you're not wrong..."

"Yeah, because I'm right." He patted his shoulder. "I'll dig deeper into that case, alright? But whatever the outcome, it doesn't change the fact that this guy was threatening all of your lives and you made the right call, alright? Just look at you, he was capable of doing that much damage with a bullet in his chest. Just think about what he'd had done had you not shot him. And I would've done the same if I had been in your position." Nick grabbed his stuff to leave the house.

"Hey, can I come with you?"

"Why?"

"I'm not getting any sleep, anyway, might as well work, right?"

"...Wrong. You get some rest. If you can't sleep..." He walked over to the coffee table to pick up the TV remote, throwing it in Greg's hands. "Watch some TV, find something to eat. Just don't do anything work-related. Relax, you need it right now."

* * *

Nick came back home hours later. He had a straining and unplanned shift behind him and just wanted to get some rest at home. He walked in to find Greg sleeping on the couch. He was happy to see his friend had finally found some sleep as he put a blanket on him. This startled Greg, he woke up in quite a panic. "Whoa, sorry," Nick said surprised.

"Nick, what..." He rubbed his eyes confused. "You're back?"

"Yeah, it's almost 9 a.m. How long have you been sleeping?"

He looked at the clock. "I don't know, four hours or so."

Nick noticed the tear stains on his friend's face. "Are you alright?"

"Mhm." He nodded as he sat up while Nick sat down next to him.

"...Have you been crying?"

Nick wasn't one to just bluntly and honestly talk about feelings, so this question surprised Greg. He nodded.

"Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

"Yeah. Take a look into the case, find out if he actually killed that woman."

* * *

Nick did what Greg asked him to, he looked into the case further, even though he was swamped with work already. He knew he could ask Greg to help him with his other cases, but he didn't want to unload his responsibilities on his friend, he felt like he didn't need the extra stress. He was just done talking to officer Spencer to gather some more information on the case. Everything except for Spencer's story made him come to the same conclusion as Greg did – that Blue didn't kill that woman. "I know it sounds crazy, but the evidence suggest it." Nick presented his findings to Russell, who couldn't quite believe the man was innocent.

"Then why did he attack Spencer and Perry?"

Nick shrugged. "Doesn't mean he didn't commit any crimes, I'm sure he had his reasons to keep cops at a distance."

Russell rubbed his forehead. "So you found somebody else's DNA under her fingernails, doesn't mean he..."

Nick interrupted him. "The same guy who left his DNA under her fingernails also had sex with her. I didn't want to believe it, either, but... He didn't kill her."

The supervisor sighed. "Alright. Then who did? Any match with the DNA?"

"Unfortunately, no, he's not in the system and his DNA didn't show up at any other crime scenes."

"Great. So what now?"

"I'm gonna go and talk to a few of her friends. She doesn't seem to have any relatives in Nevada, but I'll try to get more information about her life. I hope she knew him."

He nodded. "Sounds good. What about Greg? Are you going to tell him about it?"

"I don't know, I think I want to get more information first. He's obsessing about this enough as it is."

"But this information might calm him a little."

"...Or upset him. I don't think he'll like to hear that the man he shot didn't murder that woman... even though he keeps ignoring that he actually killed a doctor."

* * *

As Nick walked into the police department, he saw Greg walk out of one of the interrogation rooms. He seemed to be quite distressed. "Hey Greg. Is everything alright?"

Greg pretty much smashed the door shut on his way out, rubbing his shoulder with an annoyed look on his face. "Yeah, I'm **great** , why?"

Nick frowned. "What's going on?"

"Nothing..." He sighed. "It's just this jerk in there lost his damn mind when I asked for a DNA sample. Pushed me to the side and tried to walk past the cop at the door."

"Wow, sounds like he was quite panicked. What'd he do?"

"You mean besides dislocating my shoulder?" He rolled his eyes. "Nothing, really. He was picked up stealing some clothes."

Nick looked through the window to take a look at the man. "Do you think he left his DNA somewhere and is afraid we're going to find out about it?"

"I don't know, I don't really care. I'm so sick of these idiots attacking us. We're only doing our jobs, it's not my fault he decided to steal something and was bad at it. I don't even get why he did it, he's got a decent-paying job. He tried to steal second hand clothes, can you believe that? Women's jeans, I mean... maybe a fetish or something, it's weird."

"Huh. Do you have the clothes?"

"Sure, they're in there, I... Hey, what are you doing?" Nick walked into the interrogation room. Greg followed behind. "Hey, what the hell?" he whispered annoyed.

"Hello, sir. I'm Nick Stokes, what's your name?"

Instead of answering, the man spit in Nick's direction – but he was too far away to hit the CSI.

"His name's Jesse Meloni." Greg sighed as he gave Nick a look.

"Mr. Meloni, what were you doing stealing second hand clothes? …Women's clothes, no less."

"Nick, what the hell? You think I didn't ask him that already?" Greg whispered again. He was getting angry with his friend, he thought he was trying to help him, but Nick had a different agenda.

Nick looked closer at the clothes as he stared at the man. "Didn't think to wash them, did you?"

"...What?" Greg looked as confused as annoyed right now.

The older CSI didn't answer, he just grinned at the man. It were dark-blue jeans, it was hard to see it, but the spots were there. "Looks like you didn't think to wash these. There's blood on them."

"...What? Nick, what's going on here?"

"I bet you we'll find this guy's DNA all over Roselyn Rodriguez' dead body. And this blood is either hers or his."

"...What? Roselyn Rodriguez, who..." Greg stopped. He realized whose name that was now. "...Oh my god."

The man looked around nervously before he jumped off his seat, charging at the door, ramming his head against Nick's chest as he ran past him. His hands were cuffed behind his back, which made opening the door hard to do. Nick grabbed the man and pushed him down on the ground to restrain him. He kept fighting back, but as the officer joined in, he finally stopped.

Greg stared at the scene as his confusion grew. "...What's happening here?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Last chapter! I hope you enjoyed this story and will stay tuned, I'll upload another one soon :)**

 **Thanks for reading and Big Love,**

 **pikapikatchu**

* * *

Greg kept bouncing his leg up and down nervously as he waited in Russell's office. Nick walked in. "Hey."

"Hey. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Nick sighed as he sat down next to him, rubbing his chest. "This guy sure had some power in him."

"Yeah, tell me about it." Greg rotated his shoulder slightly. It still hurt a little.

"What the hell was that, Nick? How did you know he had anything to do with the case?"

Nick shrugged. "Well, I did what you asked and looked further into the case. I'm glad I did, but it wasn't as simple on second look as it first seemed. First thing I noticed was that her outfit didn't fit with her makeup, bag and shoes. She looked like she was about to go out clubbing, but wore sweatpants and an ill-fitting t-shirt. She never wore anything casual on any pictures I found on her facebook page or in her phone, it didn't seem right. And the fact that she had a knife wound on her side but the shirt she was found in was fine, made it obvious the murderer changed her clothes."

Greg nodded, but had a hard time following. It was too much confusing information to digest right now.

Russell entered the office. "Keep talking," he told Nick as he sat down in his chair.

"Well, I found DNA under her fingernails, belonging to an unidentified male. And when you told me about this guy resisting to give a DNA sample and I saw him... I knew it must've been him."

"...Why?"

"She had pictures of him in her phone. It were casual group photos so I didn't think much of it. But I'm glad I remembered his face. Lucky coincidence, nothing else."

Greg and Russell looked quite impressed. "Wow..."

"His DNA is being processed as we speak, we'll have proof soon." Nick shrugged. "But look at this." He handed Russell a file.

"What's this?" he asked as he opened it. "Phone records?"

"Belonging to Meloni. He received a call from officer Spencer's phone."

"...What?!" Greg exclaimed with wide open eyes.

"No, calm down." Nick shook his head as he chuckled. "Not from Spencer, but from his phone."

This didn't cause him to relax too much. "What are you saying?"

"Remember you said March called someone with Spencer's phone? It was him. Meloni."

Greg rubbed his eyes. "Wait. Are you telling me that this guy killed Blue... March?"

Nick nodded. "Most likely."

Greg turned his head away.

"Okay, so... case pretty much closed, huh?" Russell said quite surprised with a smile on his face. That smile faded as he looked over to Greg, who seemed to be fighting back tears. "...Greg?"

"That... That's good news." He faked a smile.

"It's been a rough few weeks, once all that tension releases the reality of it really sets in, right?" he asked sympathetically.

Greg shrugged. "That's not it."

"What is it, then?"

"I know he was a bad person. I know he killed that doctor and he would've killed Spencer, Perry and myself had he gotten the chance but..."

"...but you still feel bad about shooting him? That's normal, it..."

Greg interrupted him. "No. I feel bad that he's **dead**." He sobbed. "I don't just feel bad about it, I... I'm sad. I'm grieving. And I don't get it. Why do I feel so sad about this guy's death?"

Both men were quite surprised by this and needed a moment to think before they answered. "I don't think there's anything wrong with showing compassion for another human being." Russell gave him a soft smile.

"But he almost killed me. Look at my face, he did that. And still... When I think about it... He had just found his dead girlfriend and..." He shook his head.

"Greg, stop beating yourself up over this. I agree with Russell, it's not a bad thing you're capable of showing sympathy for this guy, even though he clearly doesn't deserve it." Nick patted his friend's shoulder with a smile on his face.

"Thanks guys..." Greg dried his eyes with a tissue his supervisor handed him. "I know I'll get over this, it's just... so confusing. I don't even understand my own feelings."

"You know, you don't have to understand it. Just embrace it. You're an empathetic guy, it's one of your best traits. Don't even question it."

This brought a smile on his face. "Thanks..."

"And you **will** get over it, you'll see."

* * *

Getting this off his chest was important to Greg. He had feared how his colleagues might react and was pleased with them being supportive. He was sitting in the break room reading when Nick walked in with a smile on his face.

"Hey, what are you reading?"

"Meloni's statement."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "How about some light reading in your breaks?"

He gave him a look. "Let's call it closure, alright? I need to read this."

"It's boring, this guy didn't have much interesting to say."

"I just think it's such a weird coincident. He dumps the clothes, someone fishes them out of the trash, sells it at the second hand store and he sees them. Had he just paid for them we probably woud've never found him."

"Yeah, lucky coincidence, I guess."

"He didn't say why he shot Blue, huh?"

Nick shook his head as he sat down. "Went totally quiet when we asked him about it. It's weird, isn't it? Why did March call him in the first place?"

"Probably had no idea that he killed his girlfriend..." He looked thoughtful as he put the files on the table. "Well, what's done is done, right? No point in looking back."

"Sure, but there's nothing wrong with taking your time accepting things as they are, you know?"

Greg sighed. "Yeah, I know." A silence followed. "Hey, did I ever thank you for taking a closer look into that case?"

The older CSI chuckled. "Did I ever thank you for giving me a push to solve this case?"

Greg smiled at him.

"Hey, guess who I saw at the crime scene today. Officer Perry, he's back."

"Really? That's great. I was afraid he might quit altogether."

"Me, too. But he's looking good, he says he's feeling good and I think he'll continue to do a good job."

Greg nodded as he sipped from a cup of coffee.

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

"Are you feeling good?"

He gave him a smile. "I'm okay. I'm not happy this happened but I'm okay with how it turned out in the end, you know?"

"Mhm..." Nick nodded as he pulled a piece of paper lying on the table closer to him. "What's this, though?"

"Hey, that's mine, give it back."

Nick started reading it. It was the information to where and when March's funeral was held.

"I know what you're thinking, but..."

He interrupted his friend. "Would you like me to accompany you or is it something you need to do alone?"

"...W-What?"

"I'm happy to tag along ."

"R...Really? You're not telling me how bad of an idea that is?"

Nick shrugged. "I don't think it is. If that's what you need to get closure, go for it. I'm here for you if you need me."

Greg had a big smile on his face as tears formed in his eyes. He nodded. "That'd be great, thanks."

* * *

Ende.


End file.
